Market breaks losing streak

Apple — the world’s most valuable company, the innovator that revolutionized the cell phone — climbed nearly 6 percent on Monday, helping propel major U.S. stock indexes to gains after a solid week of losses. The Standard & Poor’s 500, where Apple accounts for 4 percent of the index, enjoyed its best day in nearly five weeks. The Nasdaq composite index, where Apple accounts for an even heftier 12 percent, notched its biggest gain of the year.

And it was no thanks to Facebook. The social networking giant, on its second day as a public company, plunged 11 percent even as the rest of the market rallied.

There is no surefire reason for Facebook’s stock decline. It did go public during the market’s worst week of the year so far, and finished Friday just 23 cents above its opening price of $38. But that didn’t explain Monday’s plunge.

Investors also may have been spooked by technical glitches that marred trading right after it opened. But again, those issues appeared to be cleared up by Monday.

Apple is also no stranger to fickle investors. Its stock soared 57 percent from the end of last year through April 9, climbing to more than $636 from $405 as iPhone sales seemed unstoppable. Then it fell for most of April and May, declining to about $530 on Friday, partly because investors are worried that phone companies will grow tired of subsidizing the expensive phones to sell to customers.

But Monday’s gain of $30.90 to $561.28 — its second-biggest climb of the year so far — came after several analysts said they expect the iPhone business to continue to do well.

The benchmark Dow Jones industrial average rose 135.10 points, or 1.1 percent, to 12,504.48. The S&P 500 rose 20.77 points to 1,315.99, and the Nasdaq jumped 68.42 to 2,847.21.